Anthony Reiss of College Park, Md., skips moving van, relocates using only bicycles

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) -- Moving is never fun. But imagine moving using no trucks, no vans, no cars... only bicycles!

"Since we moved to the Washington, D.C. area, we decided that we didn't want to have cars," said Anthony Reiss, a bike mechanic at Proteus Bicycles in College Park.

Reiss rides his bike to work every day. His wife, Jess, an environmental consultant in Washington, commutes via metro. So when it came time for the couple to move one-mile away from their one-bedroom apartment to a new home, the Reiss family decided to stick with their no-car policy.

"It kind of started as a joke, as 'Oh, we're going to move by bicycle," said Reiss. "But as I started talking about it with my friends here at Proteus, people got really into it and they thought it was a great idea. I thought, "Well, let's roll with this!"

The word spread fast with Proteus Bicycles as the un-official sponsor, but the Reiss family was still skeptical. Could they really pull off a car-free move?

"I really didn't think it was going to work," said Reiss. "But everybody came together at the last minute and it was awesome."

About 25 people turned out to help. They brought bicycles, boxes, trailers, and a D.C. courier saved the day by donating a cargo trailer that could hold 400 pounds.

"We had bookshelves, mattresses, just huge pieces of furniture just piled up," said Reiss

They even tried to get their Jack Russell Terrier, Lucy, into the car-free spirit.

"I made her a trailer out of a milk crate and training wheels," said Reiss. "She moved about 10 feet and then she was like, 'I'm not doing this.' "

You might think that moving with bicycles would take several days, but Reiss and his cycling friends knocked it out in just two-hours.

"We started at 1:45p.m. and we were done by 4," said Reiss. "It's one of those experiences where you're like, now this is community.It's really easy to do what's most convenient, but give it a shot. There's always some potential to be a little bit greener."